Still Sketchin’ the Jammin’ at Wintergrass

 

2/21/26 Wintergrass at the Bellevue Hyatt Regency

Wintergrass, the region’s annual bluegrass festival, has long been a favorite of USk Seattle and certainly of mine. In the past, we’ve always avoided attending on the weekends, expecting that the crowds would make sketching difficult. To avoid our greater nemesis lately – the I-5 construction mess worsening commute-time congestion – we decided to give it a try on Saturday this year. To our delight, the crowds didn’t feel constrained or overwhelming at all. I enjoyed the enthusiasm of jammers and spectators alike.

It’s especially fun to see impromptu jam sessions break out among small groups of friends and even strangers. I had assumed that most of the gatherings of guitar, fiddle and mandolin players were friends, but I overheard strangers introducing themselves even as they played tunes together. I always think of it as parallel to Urban Sketchers: people who come together with their common passion to form an instant community.

At the trade show area, several massage therapists offered musicians their services.

In addition to all the musicians I sketched, my favorite subject was a huge, white Great Pyrenees (misspelled in my sketch captions) who kept walking into my sketches like a polar bear! He looked very sweet, and I was told that he attends every year.

MacGyver Success – with Hidden Talent!

 

Sketcher's eye view of my sketch kit: My waterbrush is going in for a "lick" without having to remove the Neocolor II crayons from their case.

I’m happy to report that my MacGyver’ed sketch kit solution is working out even better than expected. The single row of six Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons add no bulk to my daily-carry bag, and the tiny fabric pouch raises the crayons to the right level so that they don’t disappear into a black hole. Along with all my pencils and pens, the crayons stay upright and easily accessible. Score!

Even better, the solution turns out to have a hidden talent: The exposed ends of the Neocrayons are completely accessible for the “licking” technique! With both water-soluble pencils and crayons, I typically must hold the color with one hand while “licking” with a waterbrush in the other. The first time I was out on location with my newly MacGyver’ed kit at Gas Works Park, I reached in to grab a Neocolor for some “licked” sky color, and I realized I could dab the end of the crayon as it stands upright in the bag – removal unnecessary (top of post)! It’s like having a small palette of watercolors entirely accessible. I especially appreciated this surprising feature on that cold day, when I was wearing my fumbly convertible mittens.

With a talent like that, the little pouch deserves to be sewn into place permanently.

Everything in my kit upright and easily visible and accessible.

Heart Bomb for Gas Works Park

 

2/17/26 Gas Works Park

Built in the early 1900s, a coal gasification plant had operated on the shores of Lake Union until 1956. The mammoth, steam punkish remnants are on the historic register. The only remaining of their kind in the nation, the gasworks are a central feature of Seattle’s Gas Works Park, which opened to the public in 1975.

Despite ample signage and barriers intended to keep people from climbing the structures, trespassers still do, and some have died. The Seattle Parks Department recently applied to the Landmarks Preservation Board to take down the potentially hazardous gasworks. The Historic Seattle organization says: “We believe there are better solutions to preserve and reinforce most of these elements so that they may continue to tell the story of this Landmark, while also removing elements that provide access to the towers.” The decision has been tabled for now, and the Parks Department has been encouraged to consider more “preservation friendly options.”

That sky may look sunny, but the "feels like" temp was 37 degrees with the windchill!
(Photo by Kim Roberts)

To raise awareness of the issue, Historic Seattle held a “heart bomb” last Tuesday at Gas Works Park. What is a heart bomb? It’s “a public display of affection for places that matter. Every February, people across the country gather at historic sites and local landmarks (both safe and threatened).” 

Huh – I had never heard of it until now, but it sounded like a great sketch opportunity. As Gas Works is my favorite city park and a beloved sketching location for USk Seattle, it seemed especially important to report on the occasion.

With an appointment right before the noon event, I was late, and the event was much shorter than I had expected. As I was walking toward the park entrance, heart bombers were already walking out carrying large heart-shaped signs. (In the organization’s Instagram reel, I saw a joyous display of hearts and smiles as Historic Seattle members and friends showed their love for the park.)

Heart bomb selfie

Although I regretted missing the gathering, I still wanted to honor my beloved gasworks with a sketch. Kim had arrived in time to sketch the event itself, so at least one of us caught it. I was told that sharing a selfie on social media and hashtagging #heartbombSEA would be an appropriate way to participate, even if I missed the event.

Although I’ve sketched at Gas Works Park many, many times, this may be my loosest interpretation yet – not by intention but because my hands were so cold! Although it was partly sunny and a somewhat tolerable 42 degrees, the top of Kite Hill is one of the windiest spots in the city year-round! BRRRR!!

Chilly Kim and me at the top of Kite Hill

Open Mic at Cocoa Legato

 

2/15/26 Cocoa Legato, Greenwood neighborhood

A couple of weeks ago when I was in the Greenwood neighborhood, I dropped into a newish café that I had read about in the newspaper. The owner of Cocoa Legato, formerly an employee of Theo’s Chocolates, opened the venue to combine two of his passions: chocolate and music. According to its website, Cocoa Legato’s mission “is to create delicious bean-to-bar chocolate while fostering a home for Seattle’s vibrant music community.” Offering chocolate bars, coffee and chocolate beverages, pastries, and an intriguing menu of unexpected entrees (Chocolate grilled cheese sandwich! Chocolate avocado toast!), not to mention weekend live music, it’s a unique venue, indeed.

Although I only had time to grab a mocha to go that day, I could see the sketching potential: The chocolate-making facility in the next room was entirely visible through glass windows.

Feeling adventurous about the menu, Ching and I decided to check it out for lunch. I had been thinking about that chocolate grilled cheese sandwich for two weeks, and my anticipation was well rewarded! How could you go wrong with two favorite substances melted between bread? The not-too-sweet dark chocolate balances the cheddar perfectly. (I sketched it from imagination because I knew it had to be eaten hot!)

We were surprised to find that we had walked into the café’s regular Sunday afternoon open mic, where several performers got up to sing original and popular covers, even some favorites from the ‘70s. It was a fun time that I hope to repeat some other lazy Sunday afternoon. Maybe someday I’ll come back on a weekday, too, to catch the workers on the other side of the windows.

Chocolate grilled cheese sandwich!

On my first visit, I got this T-shirt, which
reads, "Eat Chocolate - Abolish ICE."

Workers making chocolate are visible next to shelves of bar chocolates and free samples.

One Maple, Two Ways

 

2/12/26 reference photo (Caran d'Ache Neocolor II, Derwent Inktense Blocks, Derwent Drawing pencil)

Looking at these two sketches made from the same reference photo, you might guess that I made the monochrome one first as a values study, then executed the color version.

Actually, the path I took was less straightforward. Initially planning to make another fanciful tree character, I was searching through my folder of tree images for ideas. Before I could find the right trunk, I came upon this photo that I had taken a couple of summers ago. Despite the chunk taken out of the left side of its crown to accommodate power lines, this huge maple is glorious in the fall, and I’ve sketched it both from life and from photos (it’s a little precarious from life, as I have to stand on the traffic roundabout one block south to get this view). Yet I’ve probably never sketched it in the middle of summer when the foliage is green. Seeing this photo made me want to pull out some water-soluble materials.

After finishing the color version, I still wasn’t done: A monochrome study is satisfying in different ways. I pulled out a colored pencil for one more study.

2/12/26 photo reference (Derwent Drawing pencil)

Oil Pastels: In or Out?

 

2/4/26 Haiya Paul Rubens oil pastels in Canson XL mixed-media sketchbook (photo reference)

Last year when I did my big downsizing of art supplies, it was easy to keep the things I use regularly or know that I enjoy using, even if I use them infrequently. It was also easy to get rid of things I knew I would never use. The difficult job was the whole middle ground: Things I wasn’t sure if I liked enough to keep, but maybe wanted to try again sometime.

This year my job is to go through that relatively small pile of uncertainty and decide, one way or the other. In that pile were a couple of sets of oil pastels I had purchased during the pandemic (during late-night retail therapy sessions to treat my probably common malady of boredom mixed with anxiety). Ironically, I tried them a bit during my own bout with COVID when I had plenty of sequestered time to experiment, but not much afterwards.

Do I like Caran d’Ache Neopastels and Haiya Paul Rubens oil pastels? Right off the bat, they have two strong disadvantages to my sketching lifestyle: They require a fairly large sketchbook, and they are messy, both on the hands and in forever transferring to other surfaces. That means I will never take them out to sketch on location. Anything that I can use only at home rarely gets used.

I decided to make a sketch with each product to remind myself of the experience. As I discovered the first time, I love the effects I can get with very soft and schmushy Haiya oil pastels (top of post). Using a smudging tool, the creamy, lipstick-like sticks can be blended as much as desired. I applied them fairly lightly, but I’ve seen demos online in which the product is applied and blended so heavily that the results can look like oil painting.

The Neopastels are much drier and not as easy to blend (sketch below). I immediately decided that I would not keep the set, although it was several times more expensive per stick than the Haiya set. But I was still unsure about the latter.

2/4/26 Caran d'Ache Neopastels in Canson XL mixed-media sketchbook (photo reference)

Since Mary Jean and Roy had both played with oil pastels, we decided to devote an art play date to sharing and exploring our various oil pastel products. To give the Haiya set one more try, I made the sketch below (it looks a bit abstract, but it’s an x-ray of my right shoulder, which was just diagnosed with adhesive capsulitis, or “frozen shoulder”).

2/13/26 Haiya Paul Rubens oil pastels in Canson XL mixed-media sketchbook (X-ray reference)

By the end of that sketch, I was almost ready to give up that whole set, too – but not quite. I compromised by keeping 10 colors from the set of 48, then let MJ have the rest. Roy got the Neopastels. My arty friends will make better use of them than I ever will.

While they continued making a mess, I retreated, with much relief, to the clean and tidy Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons (below) in my newly MacGyver’ed kit.

2/13/26 Third Place Commons (Neocolor II crayons in Hahnemuhle sketchbook)

Kids on the playground!

Retro Furniture at US Bank Center

2/14/26 US Bank Center

Last winter’s outing at US Bank Center was so popular that we knew it would become a USk mainstay during the cold months. Great coffee and pastries from Olympia Coffee and comfy seating on three levels make it ideal for capturing intriguing interiors and people.

Last year I sketched mostly the window views from the third level and people on the mezzanine, so this time I tried something entirely different. The third floor is furnished and decorated in a retro style with unusual lighting fixtures that attracted several other sketchers, too. Somewhat inspired by the color scheme, I also took some liberties. It was fun to focus on the furnishings as if they were a giant still life.

That sketch took longer than I usually spend on a single sketch; I was hungry by the time I finished. Taking my snack to the mezzanine level, I sketched other sketchers until it was time for the throwdown.

A good mix of water-soluble and non-soluble media.

Color notes: Although color is not usually what attracts me first or determines whether I choose a subject to sketch, it was this time. The interior scene in the first sketch felt like a good test of my values-based palette, and all those solid shapes of color were easy to see. Picking up on the rust, yellow and navy furniture, I changed the lighting fixtures from white to light green and the patterned wall to pale yellow. I made the cast shadows dark green just to balance the green lamps. I think limiting my palette to four colors made the composition more cohesive.

Media notes: Since I was seated in a chair at a table, not standing on the sidewalk, the sketch was not necessarily a test of my newly MacGyver’ed sketch kit, but it confirmed that I chose a solid range of warms and cools, and a good mix of water-soluble materials. In fact, I took advantage of having a comfy seat to include a technique I don’t usually like to spend much time on when standing – the “licked sky” technique – with both the Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils and the Neocolor II crayons. The pale washes that are easy to achieve with that technique are an ideal way to give color to the lightest values. Even without including watercolors, the technique made me feel like my mixed-media kit was even more mixed!